Zen2: higer RAM Speed vs Dual Rank

[PC_newb]

Hi everyone,

I'm currently building a new PC for mostly gaming, but also things like photo-editing, 3d-modeling for 3d-printing and programming.

I decided to get the Ryzen 7 3700X and a X570 MoBo.

 

What kind of RAM would you recommend? I've alredy looked up things like CAS-Latency, Timings and Clock-Speeds.

Now for the Zen2 CPUs high clock-speed (3600Mhz+) RAM seems optimal, however I also read that dual-rank RAMs can have the same performance at lower clock-speeds.

3600MHz dual-rank RAMs are way to expensive, so I'm asking myself if it's better to buy a 3200Mhz dual-rank RAM like this one 32GB (2x 16GB) Corsair Vengeance LPX Black DDR4-3200 CL16 (CMK32GX4M2B3200C16)        or if I should go with a higer clocked single-rank kit.

What would you recommend? And which kit specifically?

 

Bonus question: What do you think of the Gigabbyte X570 Aorus Ultra?

 

Any input is appreciated

[porina]

In a compute condition where I know the workload is heavily ram bandwidth sensitive, 3200 dual rank blows away 3600 single rank by over 20% throughput. Further Increasing the IF speed async to ram might have helped a little further but it wasn't significant.

 

However, that doesn't represent the vast majority of things most people run. Vast majority of use cases aren't that sensitive to ram speed, and the large L3 cache of Zen 2 reduces that impact further. I used Kingston HyperX 4000 RGB 2x8GB for my testing, which also has a XMP 3600 profile that actually gives better real world performance on both Zen 2 and Intel platforms than 4000. The 3200 ram I used was Corsair Vengeance Pro RGB 2x16GB. Generally speaking, I suspect 16GB modules might be dual rank to get the capacity, but all recently sold 8GB modules are single rank.

[Vishera]

What is your budget?

I will recommend a full part list.

[Man]

23 minutes ago, PC_newb said:

however I also read that dual-rank RAMs can have the same performance at lower clock-speeds.

I think you're mistaking RAM ranking with RAM channels. They are two different animals. 

 

A dual-rank RAM doesn't make much of an impact for 99.99% of users and doesn't make much sense, as far as performance per dollar is concerned, hence you only see them in professional environment.

 

The difference is barely there, as you can see in the following video:

 

 

Whereas dual-channel RAM can make quite an impact. Hence Intel's server grade motherboards usually support triple-channel ECC memory which is a much cheaper alternative of dual-rank RAM. 

[porina]

9 minutes ago, Man said:

A dual-rank RAM doesn't make much of an impact for 99.99% of users and don't make much sense, as far as performance per dollar is concerned, hence you only see them in professional environment.

Where you see dual rank or not is more a function of ram density. In the early DDR4 days, 8GB modules could be single or dual rank. As memory chip density increased, today I'm not aware of any 8GB modules that are dual rank. I don't have much data on 16GB modules as I only own one type, which are dual rank. I'd guess 16GB modules would be dual rank. Certainly if you move to 32GB, they'll be dual rank.

 

Quote

Whereas dual-channel RAM can make quite an impact.

IMO it is a crime to run any system where you care about performance with fewer than supported ram channels.

 

Quote

Hence Intel's server grade motherboards usually support triple-channel ECC memory which is a much cheaper alternative of dual-rank RAM. 

Think current mid range platform Xeons are 6 channel. 3 channel hasn't been a thing since 1st gen Core i series from about a decade ago. Regardless of the channels, if high capacity is a thing, they'll be running dual rank modules anyway, and likely more than one of them per channel.

[Man]

5 minutes ago, porina said:

IMO it is a crime to run any system where you care about performance with fewer than supported ram channels.

 

My thoughts exactly.

 

5 minutes ago, porina said:

Think current mid range platform Xeons are 6 channel. 3 channel hasn't been a thing since 1st gen Core i series from about a decade ago. Regardless of the channels, if high capacity is a thing, they'll be running dual rank modules anyway, and likely more than one of them per channel.

I honestly didn't know that new Xeons support upto 6 channels! I haven't payed much attention to Xeons after the X58 platform. 

[PC_newb]

15 minutes ago, Vishera said:

What is your budget?

I will recommend a full part list.

 

Hey, I hope to reuse some parts from my current PC, mainly my GTX 1080 (that will be upgraded at some point down the line, but not right now), my PSU (be quiet! Dark Power Pro 850W) and maybe my old CPU AIO (Corsair H80).

 

This is what I currently planned:

(I'm new to this forum and not quite sure how to properly import a PPP Part List into a post)

 

PCPartPicker Part List: https://de.pcpartpicker.com/list/yBxMb8

CPU:              AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor  (€337.20 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Motherboard: Gigabyte X570 AORUS ULTRA ATX AM4 Motherboard  (€269.00 @ Alternate)
Memory:        Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory  (€92.90 @ Alternate)
Storage:        Samsung 970 Evo 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  (€77.90 @ Alternate)
Total:              €777.00
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

[Vishera]

44 minutes ago, PC_newb said:

 

Hey, I hope to reuse some parts from my current PC, mainly my GTX 1080 (that will be upgraded at some point down the line, but not right now), my PSU (be quiet! Dark Power Pro 850W) and maybe my old CPU AIO (Corsair H80).

 

This is what I currently planned:

(I'm new to this forum and not quite sure how to properly import a PPP Part List into a post)

 

PCPartPicker Part List: https://de.pcpartpicker.com/list/yBxMb8

CPU:              AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor  (€337.20 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Motherboard: Gigabyte X570 AORUS ULTRA ATX AM4 Motherboard  (€269.00 @ Alternate)
Memory:        Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory  (€92.90 @ Alternate)
Storage:        Samsung 970 Evo 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  (€77.90 @ Alternate)
Total:              €777.00
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

The list is pretty good,

You could use a B450 board,like the MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX,That board can handle even a 3950X.

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor	€337.20 @ Amazon Deutschland
Motherboard	MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX ATX AM4 Motherboard	€117.87 @ Amazon Deutschland
Memory	Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory	€92.90 @ Alternate
Storage	Samsung 970 Evo 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	€77.90 @ Alternate
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	€625.87
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-11-30 15:53 CET+0100